The present invention relates to a deflecting device for use in a sorter or the like which is connected to a recording apparatus such, for example, as a copying apparatus, to perform a collating operation.
An apparatus described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 144333/1978 is well known prior art for a deflecting device. In that apparatus, a deflecting plate is provided for movement between a first position in which the plate serves as an ordinary receiving plate for copy sheets ejected from a recording apparatus, and a second position in which the plate serves to direct copy sheets toward a sorter.
In a deflecting device having such functions, when the upper plate of the deflecting means is utilized as a copy sheet receiving tray and a number of copy sheets stacked thereon, the weight of the sheets during an operative shift of the deflecting means overloads its driving system, possibly causing damage thereto. For this reason, a conventional deflecting device is so designed that the deflecting plate or tray can not be shifted or moved from its first to its second position--based on an output signal of a sheet detecting means--unless copy sheets stacked on the plate are first removed therefrom. However, in such a construction, even a very few copy sheets stacked on the tray of the deflecting means hinders resumption of the collating operation by a sorter, necessitating the aid of persons versed in copying work and significantly lowering the efficiency of the copying operation.